MorningStar Farms, a division of the Kellogg Company
K, +4.38%
that produces vegetarian variations of meat-based products like burgers, bacon, sausage patties and corn dogs, will convert its entire product line to be 100% vegan by 2021.

The company confirmed it will remove more than 300 million egg whites annually from its products, which sell at national retailers like Target
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Walmart
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and Amazon
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MorningStar will also stop using all dairy ingredients, including cheese, lactose, whey and milk powder in its recipes.

“More people are looking for options that are vegan,” Mel Cash, head of global marketing for plant-based protein at Kellogg, told MarketWatch. “It’s for anyone who has the desire to eat less meat or more plant-based.”

While only 3% of Americans told a recent Gallup poll they follow a vegan diet — which eschews all animal products including meat, fish, eggs, dairy and gelatin — some 39% say they want to eat more plant-based foods, according to Nielsen.

Food companies are capitalizing on the growing demand. MorningStar Farms Cheezeburger ($3.99 for a 2-pack of burgers) launches on March 7. It’s topped with a plant-based cheddar “cheese,” and loaded with 23 grams of protein.

Roughly 50% of MorningStar’s portfolio has already been converted to vegan recipes. And about 65% of its products are slated to be all-vegan by the end of 2019. Cash said the vegan products will include the same amount of protein.

MorningStar said it’s using a “proprietary plant-based blend” to replace the eggs in its products. Currently, the spicy black bean burgers, which have not yet been converted to vegan, are made with egg whites and contain 9 grams of protein. The new meat lovers vegan burger is made with soy protein, brown lentils, spinach, and soy flour isolate and contains 27 grams of protein.

MorningStar is just one of several companies trying to meet the growing demand for veggie-oriented eating. Boston-based company Ginkgo Bioworks recently announced its new food startup, Motif Ingredients, which will develop ingredients that could be used to replace meat, eggs, dairy and protein. Food companies would be able to request a specific food they want to make sans meat or dairy.

Tyson
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announced last January it invested in Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes Beyond Meat.

San Francisco-based food technology company Memphis Meats grows sustainable, lab-grown meat by harvesting cells from animals and cultivating them. Earlier this month, it announced plans to debut a vegetarian protein option of its own.

Retails sales of plant-based foods in the U.S. that replace animal products grew by 17% to $3.7 billion in 2018, and the total U.S. plant-based retail market is worth more than $4.1 billion, according to data from Nielsen and the Good Food Institute.

Shares of Kellogg’s have been down 4.32% for the year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
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is up 10.13% and the S&P 500 Index SPX,
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is up 10.84%.

MorningStar Farms did not confirm how much it will spend on converting its offerings — which comprises 32 different products — to vegan recipes, but said suggested retail prices for consumers had not changed for renovated products currently available.

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